Flying Without Wings

New American Idol Ruben Studdard Talks About His Win, Weight and Whirlwind Life

Sitting beside Jay Leno less than 24 hours after winning FOX's American Idol, Ruben Studdard can't stop beaming with shy pride as the Tonight Show host runs through the nicknames that have been coined to describe the singer's rich, mellow pipes: "Velvet Teddy Bear?" asks Leno. "Yeah," Studdard answers, smiling. "Chocolate Marshmallow?" Ruben, still grinning, concedes that's his personal favorite. But Leno has his own pick: "I gotta go," he says, "for Sumo of Soul."

A few days later the Sumo of Soul is slumped backstage at NBC's Today show after singing "Flying Without Wings," his first single, and two other ballads to a crowd of 1,500 fans who braved the morning rain in Manhattan. When a visitor asks, "How you doin', Ruben?" his listless answer suggests one more nickname: "Tired, dawg."

There's still plenty of adrenaline-fueled elation to go around for Studdard, 24, the second-ever American Idol champ. Just ask the women outside Today. "His voice really hits your heart," says Kapiolani Laronal, 23, from Seattle. "His whole face is warming." Or call his folks back in Birmingham. His grandmother Hattie Williams, 68,-was so thrilled at his win, "I hugged the TV." Says his mother, Emily Studdard, 49, a teacher: "It's not often that we get to see our children reach their dreams. It's just a blessing." With Ruben, though, it's hard to say whether it's all still sinking in or just sunk right through. "It's wonderful, but as far as the absolute feeling of it...I don't have an answer, because I haven't had a chance to just breathe," he says. "Being in the machine we call American Idol, we're always working."

The foreman's whistle isn't going to blow for lunch any time soon, either. Studdard spends his days wading through a barrage of TV interviews and an ever-surging tide of fans who have no trouble picking an oversize 6'4" TV star out from a crowd. (He and Clay Aiken, 24, the runner-up from Raleigh, N.C., got an ovation at Rent, the Broadway play they attended May 24.) The Velvet Teddy Bear naturally seems to invite hugs—bear hugs. Once, "this lady jumped on me, and the guards had to pull her off. She would not let me go, dawg." Ruben has some serious wheeling and dealing ahead too: His first album is being produced by fabled R&B impresario Clive Davis, the man behind Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys. There'll be an Idol tour in a few months. And, according to Aiken, "Ruben and I will possibly do a movie"—as did the first season's top two, Kelly Clarkson and Justin Guarini. For a man whom the often catty Simon Cowell describes as "quite innocent," flying without wings means charting a very challenging course.

And it's not as if he could just chuck it all and return to Birmingham. "We wouldn't get no rest," says his brother Kevin Studdard, 29. The place is rabid for Ruben: The Idol finale sucked in 71 percent of the local audience, and the mayor and city council are planning a bash in the convention center. The banks that lent him money to attend Alabama A&M University for 3 1/2 years are eager to talk with him too. "They've been seeing me on TV," says Studdard, who took home a million-dollar recording contract, "so they're expecting payment."

Things have been just as dizzying for his runner-up, who a few months ago was a special-education major (with nerdy hair) at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. "I'm on a new fork in the road," says Aiken. "But this road hasn't even been built yet." Now, says his proud mom, decorator Faye Parker, 57, "he belongs to the world."

For the moment. But what are the longterm odds for winners of reality-show pop contests? "That's like asking me to predict the weather in six months' time," says Cowell. But Studdard, who at the very least stands to earn millions as the reigning Idol, has a sound that transcends trends: "He's making music romantic again," says Cowell. "Barry White was the same." Though Amazon.com orders for his upcoming single are far outstripped by Aiken's, which will be "Bridge over Troubled Water," Studdard says there's no rivalry. Indeed, on the summer tour, the pair, along with other finalists, will "be going everywhere," he says. "But," he adds, sounding a little disappointed, "I'll be seeing it from inside a bus."

Tom Gliatto
Cynthia Wang, Monica Rizzo, Pamela Warrick and Alexis Chiu in Los Angeles, Linda Trischitta and Don Sider in Miami, Mark Dagostino and Caroline Howard in New York City and John Slania in Chicago

Contributors:

Cynthia Wang,

Monica Rizzo,

Pamela Warrick,

Alexis Chiu,

Linda Trischitta,

Don Sider,

Mark Dagostino,

Caroline Howard,

John Slania.

More From This Article

The Big Question

Ruben Studdard's girth—a reported 350 lbs.—proves that what truly matters for an American idol is the size of the voice, not the waist. But many viewers, including judge Simon Cowell, couldn't help notice how winded Ruben seemed by the end of the hour-long May 20 sing-off. In the course of the season, "I think he'd lost a little weight, but the finale showed the stress he was under," says Cowell. "The combination of lack of sleep, stress and carrying too much weight really could kill him. It's almost a matter of life and death." But Studdard says he isn't worried about such weighty issues. "I've never had high blood pressure, any of that stuff," says Studdard, skirting the question of when he last saw a doctor for a checkup. "I've always been a big guy, and I've never had health problems."

Down for the Count

It wasn't quite l'affaire chad, but two glitches connected to Idol's photo finish—24,091,761 votes, with 50.28 percent for Studdard and 49.72 for Aiken—lit up online message boards with accusations of cheating and demands for a recount.

1) Reading off a TelePrompTer, host Ryan Seacrest announced that Ruben had beaten Clay by a mere 13,000 phone-in votes. That figure ticked down when Seacrest, correcting himself from a cue card, said the margin was actually 1,300. By the end of the night the number swelled to 130,000. Chalk it up to sloppiness--"Human error on a live broadcast," says a FOX spokesman. (In addition, a different snafu let Clay know minutes before the end that Ruben had won. Says Aiken: "Ryan was perusing his card, and I glanced over and saw there was a name on the card that was longer than 'Clay Aiken' would be.")

2) Using two 800 numbers to vote, some 250,000 callers apparently touch-dialed a wrong digit—"Q" instead of "0"—and flooded the voice mail of a church in Tennessee. Of those, according to Cinergy Communications, the Evansville, Ind., company that routed the calls, almost 170,000 were for Clay, more than twice Ruben's estimated 80,000. Even with those votes factored in, Ruben wins. Says Simon Cowell: "Anyone who questions the voting should just go into the AT&T offices and find a log."

Idol Awol

Why was Josh Gracin, 22, absent from Idol's send-off? Booted May 7, the Marine, who has a year of duty left, returned to California's Camp Pendleton to finish annual training. "From swimming to tactical exercises," says a public affairs officer, "it's intensive." Josh hopes to enlist with the Idol tour after training ends June 30.

No Idling for An Idol

If we could peek at Ruben's Palm Pilot...

•WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 I win the show! Flurry of insta-interviews. Then off to a FOX party at Universal Studios.